Tyrrany of the mages guild
by hooded mage
Summary: Life in the mages guild had got tough. Really tough and people were ready to rebel
1. Chapter 1

Tyrrany of the mages guild

I woke up early to a crisp day and remembered what was to happen.

Last week the mages guild had gotten permission from the Emperor to control all magic and anyone who used it. Failiure to agree to this was punishable by death.

So Raminus (second in command of the guild) had gotten every mage who disagreed with the guilds rules and told them to meet today at fort Sutch. The marauders there had a couple of mages who took Raminus's side including the warlord himself.

I was a high elf and at only 13 years of age was easily the youngest mage to qualify for the arcane university. I had long black hair hanging loose to my shoulders and a muscular build due to the many hours training with my dai-katana. I was one of the mages who opposed the guild and was going to fort sutch.

''not another one !''I thought as I saw another mountain lion charging towards me. With a quick flick of my wrist the mountain lion was encased in a block of ice. In a few hours the lion would be able to move again and by that time I would be long gone. I hated killing things and avoided it as much as I could if occasions would allow.

I was getting closer to fort sutch now as I could smell the salt in the air and hear the seagulls flying over head.

As he crest a particularly steep hill I saw it . An old ruin half covered in moss and ivy with its left tower missing and part of the wall gone but I new it was just the tip of the ice burg and its main area was underground.

I slipped through the door and quickly hurried down the corridor not wanting to miss the meeting.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N I have decided to lengthen my chapters and to change to first person. Also I think the mages guild should be alot bigger with atleast 3 times the amount of people. Review please!_

The room was packed full of people from every branch of the guild. As I was one of the late comers I only got a seat at the back of the lower floor behind a dusty old redgaurd with thinning hair who was looking around as if he was not sure he wanted to be here.

Raminus stood on a wooden platform in the middle of the hall. The hall was an extremely tall thin room dug verticaly under the fort with with stone balconies hugging the walls and jutting out at regular intervals all the way up to the foundations of fort sutch. Every space was filled with mages and nosey marauders looking to see what was going on.

Raminus cleared his throat and began.''I trust you all know why you are here.'' He stated in aloud impressive voice.''The mages guild has tried to take over every mage in Tamriel to bend to its own will for its sick experiments and ideas. As he said this he pulled a white sheet of a round object next to wich resembled a large bird cage with some kind of grotesque monster inside it. The monster looked like it may at one time resembeled a dunmer, but had turned lop sided and grown short green fur. It frothed at the mouth and made a noise that seemed a cross between a howl , a screech and a moo.''Thisis one of the guilds experiments.'' Said Raminus as he got shreiks and gasps across the hall.''It was once a young dunmer lass living in Cheydinhal and was captured by the guild. Half her blood was drained out and replaced by that of a trolls.'' Raminus covered up the cage and asured us she would be put out of her misery.''Will we allow the guild to get away with this? Will we let them torture people like this? Will we allow them to control our lives? And will we fight back?''

He was met by an almighty uproar as the hall shook with the sounds of people eagerly agreeing in their shouts of jubilation.

''The marauders have let us make thisour head quartters as thhis has more than enough space. As you can see behind me on the wall is a large sheetof paper with the names of everyone in the guild on it tick your name on it and leave. but be warned this is a magical bond, if you are a spy of the guild it will not allow you to tick. We will check that you have ticked on your way out and if you haven't we can not let you leave and you will be desposed of and prepare, for in a month we will meet here again and you will not go back to the guild again.''

I was right at the back so ticked my name last and I was dismayed to see that only a quarter of the guild had turned up. But on the bright side there were only two spies and they were taken to be ..er.. desposed of .

I left to go back to my house in Skingrad but this time with agroup of mages. Its not good to be outside alone at night.


	3. Chapter 3

I had never been as busy than on the days leading up to going back to fort sutch for the final time. I worked harder in my studies then ever before so as to appear less suspicious but coming to think of it I probably did the opposite.

''Hey! What are you doing?'' Came a shout from behind me.I turned around,my heart racing,I breathed out a sigh of releif as I saw it was my friend Jonathan. ''Just getting ready to head out for fort sutch.'' I said in a hushed tone so not to be over was also heading out as I saw his name ticked at the fort.''Do you think we will need alchemy equipment?'' He asked.

''I'm not sure , they may supply us there but take a morter and pestle just in case. On second thoughts bring a calcinator aswell and I will bring an alembic and retort so we can share.''

''Good idea,'' he said as he walked off '' I 'll take the expert stuff ,you know to really annoy them.'' Jonathan and I had taken it upon ourselves to course as much grief when we leave.

I looked around the Skingrad mages guild almost sorry to leave it behind. It had been my home for as long as I could remember. They had brought me up and cared for me but I knew I had to go.

It was then I saw the the alchemy box Adrieene kept all the expensive ingredients in .I had never had a reason to break into it before but being skilled in alteration it was no problem at all. There was quite a wealth of items in there : dreugh wax, ectoplasm ,minotaur horns, clanfear claws,troll fat. Even vampire dust and deadra hearts. I was sure they would not need these any more.

That night our rag tag group of mages left through Skingrads gates out into the wilderness. There was me the altmer. Jonathan an imperial. Jacob a breton(Iknow confusing two of us.)and Jessica a bosmer. Also there were about twenty other mages with us. Including our most skilled Sulinus Vassinus.

We had been walking for 3 hours when we spotted something strange behind us. Jessica had seen it first and with her keen bosmer eyes and the use of a night eye spell she identified them as mages guild assassins using a light spell. Jonathan,Jacob and Sulinus took them all out with fire balls and shock spells before they had time to see us.

We reached Fort Sutch and joined the Kvatch group as we went inside to find out what was going to happen


	4. Chapter 4

We walked through the black wood double doors into the vertical chamber to see Raminus standing on the stage looking expectant.

''Now all of us are _finaly_ here we can begin. It is time to fight back, the mages guild have hunted some of us down and I regret to say they have managed to kill some of our supporters. Only half of our friends from Leyawiin have made it and the chorrol group took some casualties in an ambush. As you can see we have increased in number.'' And we had,on the first meeting there was only about 2000 of us now it was closer to 4500.''About a third of every group of mages have joined us including the vampires and goblins but be warned the rest of them have joined the mages guild and their forces are double ours. But enough of that , there are nine levels of fort sutch from here to the fifth level up they are sleeping quarters . The next level is for storage and the next two are for training. The top level is the library,the officers quarters, the guild shop and the infirmary. Outside of fort sutch and the near vacinity is an alchemy garden you will now be escorted to your rooms.

My room was on the top level of the sleeping quarters it was tiny about 3 by 4 feet and consisted of a single bed ,two book shelves,a wardrobe and a cupboard. The rooms were lined on either side of a corridor that circle the virtical room was in between Jessicas and Jacobs . Jonathan would have got a room but on the first day he leaned of the balcony to look into the vertical hall and someone thought it would be funny to give him a little shove,hes been in the infirmary ever since.

It turned out they did supply with equipment but with Jonathan in the infirmary I got the expert alchemy equipment that we stole so I had that little advantage over most people (apart from the clever people who had the same idea.)

Everybody who knew anything in conjuration was taught a spell that allowed them to permanantly summon any creature. It was suprising how few people knew conjuration but as it was one of my strong points I knew the spell. Most mages chose something big and strong or cute and cuddly but I chose a wil-o-the wisp because they are mysterious and magical , they make good reading lights and can suffocate people by flying down their windpipe.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up to a cold damp morning. The glow of the role call lantern was shining in under my door,casting a warm and oddly welcoming light into my room. It had been a fortnight since we moved into fort sutch and things have started to settle down. A routine has been organised and a sense of a community has been noticed.

Every morning except Sundas we were expected to train or help around the fort. Lessons started at nine and finished at four you got to choose the lesson you did that day and what part of it you would explore. The lessons were mysticism,alteration,destruction,illusion,conjuration,

restoration and alchemy. There were optional lessons aswell like archery,blade,blunt,armour (heavy and light),block and hand to hand. Anyone with useful unique abilities like being acrobatic or sneaking had facilities where they could practice those.

I was going to study alchemy today seeing as in my initiation exam I got a poor in it.

''today we shall see how to successfuly get poison into a creatures blood stream. We shall look at poison coated weapons first. Anyone with a suggestion?''

''You could stab them with a dagger.''

''Shoot them with an arrow.''

''Prick them with a pin.''

I put my hand up and said ''Please sir all of those techniques defeat the point of the poison. You could kill someone by stabbing them with a dagger devoid of poison and likewise with an arrow. A pin on the other hand won't have a high enough concentration of poison on it to cause any great effect even with the most potent of poisons.''Everyone just sat there staring at me.''Yes you are quite right,but what would you suggest?'' Said the teacher. I replied''I would suggest slicing someone with a sharp object not enough to kill but with poison it is deadly.''

''Well done that is the best way of ensuring absolute poison efficiency''

It was four o'clock and the lessons had finished so I was walking down one of the corridors when I saw a group of people crowded round a message board. There was a new sheet of paper on it that read

_There will be a mock seige of fort sutch tommorow anyone who wishes to take part come to the vertical hall tommorow at 7am sharp bring anything you think will be useful have fun._

I ran straight to my room to get ready because I knew exactly what I would be doing tommorow.


	6. Chapter 6

_AN I forgot to mention in earlier chapters that most of the old traditional mages stayed with the evil mages guild that's why in the siege all the people are quite young._

I looked at the items spread out on my bed trying to decide what to put in my way too small leather bag. I finaly composed a list of the items I would take.

health potion x5

akaviri dai-katana x1

loaf of bread x2

cheese wedge x1

apple x4

motar and pestle x1

steel dagger x1

chameleon suit x1

charcoal x3

parchment x20

spare clothes x2

I thought this would be all I needed and anyway I couldnt fit much more in my I swung it across my shoulder and headed for the hall. On the way down I noticed that the corridors were crammed full of of people most of the guild must have decided to take part in the seige.I walked down the last flight of stairs and into the hall with a large group of giggling girls about two years older than me.

I took my seat at the front of the hall eager to see what would be said and how the seige was going to happen.

Raminus took his usual place on the stage and cleared his throat for silence.''Hello and I must say it delightful to see so many of you here. Now straight to the point, you will be put into two teams the attacking and defending,the attacking team will have twice as many people as the defending team and will start a mile out of fort sutch in a small wood to the east. The defending team will start in the ruins and have access to all the supplies but dont worry the attackers will have stores seige will end when the attackers have defeated the defenders and taken over fort sutch, or until the defenders have defeated enough attackers that an effective assault is not possible. You will be firing to kill but dont worry a spell will be placed on all of you so if you die or are mortaly wounded you will be brought back to life or healed but will be teleported here and no longer able to fight.'' Alot of people physicaly relaxed at this and I myself was releived.''You will find that you have already been put into teams and within your team you will be classed in to groups weak average and advanced judging on your skill . Go and check on where you have been asighned to and go there now. Oh and there will be a prize for the team who wins good luck.''

I went to the back of the room to see where I was put and found that I was on the attacking team wich I wasnt to pleased about but I saw that I was also marked as advanced.

I lazily twidled a long peice of grass between my fingers as I sat under a large beech tree in a small wood on the eastern side of the plains surrounding fort sutch. We had trundeled there with all of our supplies( though luckily we could cast teleknesis on them) from the fort to here now we were waiting for the instructions from the officers. Some of us had voluntered to unpack the equipment but they soon regreted it as they realised just how hot it was that day. Suddenly out of nowhere three officers appeared and walked towards us they stopped outside the wood and called everyone over.''Right then I shall begin,''said an old frail breton with thinning grey hair''There are 22 advanced students in this team and they will act as your leaders the average students should act as front line soldiers and the weak ones as the support. But this is just advice it is up to the advanced now. The siege will start at dawn tommorow so you better get prepared. Here are the maps of the area and charts of fort sutch also there is a letter for each of you good luck!'' And with that they evaporated into thin air. Everyone immediatley rushed about getting things prepared and looking at their letters that had flown from the officer to us, I put mine in my pocket and headed towards the main pavilion.

As I aproached the bright red tent I heard heated voices.''What do you mean you are the general!'' Shouted a female voice.

''I mean I am the general it says so in my letter.''

''Let me see that.'' Said the girl a few seconds pause a more quieter girls voice asked ''Anna?''Who I presumed was the first womans name.''He's right'' said Anna. At that moment I walked in and everyone turned to face me. ''What?'' asked the general ''unless you know where Orion Francis is get out.''

''As a matter of fact I do know where Orion is.''

''Where?''

''I am Orion Francis and here is my letter to prove it.''I handed him my letter and sure enough there was my name in big flowing writing. He handed me back my letter and said. ''Well this is a shock but the evidence is there so I cant complain go and take your place.'' I went and sat next to Anna. I looked around the room to study everyone. The general who afterwards I found out was called James was a tall well built boy with short brown hair ruffled and messy. Anna was a very intimidating looking girl of 18 but was very kind and gentle with wavy ginger hair falling down just past her shoulders. The youngest there (apart from me) was a girl of about 16 and the oldest was James at 23.''Well everyone after this confusion I suggest reading our letters to see our posts.'' James said .''Now all I need to know is who is my second in command?''

''I am.'' said Anna.

''And who is my third?''

''I am.'' I said. Anna smiled at me with laughter in her eyes, I was offended until I saw she was laughing at the look of shock on James's face.

We spent the rest of the evening going over tactics and it was decided that we should have most of us in an initail charge but some of us in seperate groups doing other very important things and I was in charge of one of those groups.


	7. Chapter 7

It was the day of the seige and what a fine day it was to. The sun hadn't risen and it wouldn't for another two hours it was cool and damp and the grass was wet and springy with dew.

Despite the early hours lights were visable around the camp and the main pavilion was like a giant lantern.

''Okay,''James said''let's go over this , Chris, Rodric Emelia,Poppy and I will lead the main assault. Daisy, Alice, Laura and John you lead a group to the left flank. Lily, Alfie, Ciaran and Jordan to the right. Anna, you and Orion will take a group of average mages to the north east side where the wall is weakest and try to breach that but it is bound to be heavily defended and if they see you and start attacking then join the main army I can't afford to lose you both in vain. The rest of you will be spread around the average and weak mages protecting them and adding to their spells especailly the weak as their spell barley reach apprentice level. Has everyone got that?''We all nodded.'' Good now go and get yourselves kitted out and meet me at the edge of the wood in two hours.'' Everyone left and I went to my tent to get my bag weapons and armour. We had managed to get a good amount of armour for everyone but when I say armour I mean clothes enchanted with a sheild spell beacause one of the average mages had somehow nicked an enchanting altar from the arcane university. Everyone last night gave the advanced the clothes they wanted enchanted and got them back this morning. I had chosen black wide pants with scruffy shoes and a drothmeri shirt. I pulled them on and looked into the wash basin. It was then that it dawned on me that I probably wasn't fully altmer, my skin was not yellow, it looked like a taned Bretons and my ears were not nearly pointy enough. I made a note to myself to ask someone about it but it would have to wait for now.

Everyone was crammed together at the edge of the wood, the advanced at the front then the average and weak mixed. Suddenly a redish purple light flew towards us, there was no time to get out of the way. It hit us with a faint hiss and sent us sprawling. ''What was that?'' Someone asked.

''Judging by the fact that my axe is a pile of dust and I'm wearing normal clothes I'd say a dispel crossed with a corrode weapon spell.'' A woman said at the back. We all stood there, not one of us had expected them to use such a cheap trick, so before they could try anything else we trudged solomly back to the woods.

''What should we do!''

''The battle was meant to start an hour ago!''

''We can't let them win like this.''

''QUIET!'' Everyone stopped and looked at James.

''Thank you. Now we aren't going to let them win no matter what, but we will need a new plan. As my mind has gone blank does anyone have any suggestions?''

''I do.'' Said Poppy. ''We didn't need weapons anyway, all they were was a useful tool to help us fight but not a necesity. After all we are mages what do we need swords and hammers for if we can tear our enemies limb from limb with a flick of our wrists.'' Most people applauded but Rodric had something to say '' Now I do agree with you as all mages have some form of attack no matter how weak, but the enemy now have an advantage. We may be able to block fireballs and shock spells but arrows or a well placed dagger aren't nearly as easy. Only the most skilled can have any chance of blocking them.'' Again he was met with applause.

Then it was Anna's turn to speak. I was still upset by the loss of my katana that I had had since I was three so my mind couldn't think of anything. '' We need to find a way of getting those weapons off of them. Of course we can't use the same trick as they would have defended themselves against it, so I suggest a mix of paralyze and teleknesis. We fire a one second paralyze at the enemy so they drop their weapons and in that moment we use teleknesis to get their weapons and use them against the people they belonged to.'' She was met with woops and cheers as this would give us an advantage over them. '' Very good,'' said John. '' but we need to think about the main charge. If we only charge at one point then they can cast another spell we haven't defended ourselves against, so we need to suround them, thining out our troops yes but also giving them more then one target and I think it takes a while for them to get enough magika to cast those big spells. Also if we do suround them we won't be able to send out those side groups as we won't have enough troops for the assault.''

''No we need those side groups but we'll just make them alot smaller.'' James said.

We were lined up in four regiments in the middle of the plains ready to cast our first spell. ''Okay everyone CAST!'' James shouted. Hundreds of spinning green lights hurteled themselves at the enemy a few seconds later they hit and a purple light surounded the dropped weapons, they hurtled towards us but stopped half way. The purple light deepened and we realised they were casting teleknesis on the weapons too. There was a desperate struggle as we fought with all our might to get the weapons. I was dueling a fat dunmer who was sweating profoundly and in a few moments his spell snapped and I won but the momentum broke my spell too so I had a deadric warhammer flying out of control towards my head. I ducked just in time but the girl behind me wasn't so lucky it hit her square in the face and took it right off, she collapsed and her body disappeared in a purple cloud. Similar scenarios were happening all around me some for us and some for the enemy. In ten minutes there was only one weapon left to fight for, an enchanted glass dagger held by Anna and the other teams general. The whole of our team pulled with Anna and all the enemies pulled with their general. The poor little dagger couldn't take this punishment and imploded leaving a fine pile of dust gathering in the grass. We all looked at eachother in shock and then we charged.


End file.
